Can't take picture

Try, turning the camera on and taking the batteries out without turning the camera off. This will simulate a force reset. Turn the dial on the camera to "playback" mode and put the batteries back in. Turn the camera back on. This should put the camera in playback mode and by default put the telescoping lens in a resting position. Turn the camera between "shoot" and "playback" mode if turning it on in "playback" mode doesn't work right away. Another more risky strategy is waiting until the lens zooms in and taking the batteries out at the instant it's retracted the most and manually pushing the lens back to it's resting position.  Sometimes the plastic gearing skips is the camera is turned on inside of the case and you need to "reset" the gears.

Good luck!